


Plight Of The Heart

by InfiniteRabbits



Series: Magpie Moon [4]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23888026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfiniteRabbits/pseuds/InfiniteRabbits
Summary: (Short Story) Taking place some time after the events of A Bird Set Free, Shadow worries that perhaps his dating skills aren't up to par. The only one he knows that he can talk to about this matter is his best friend, Rouge the bat. However talking about his feelings isn't as easy as he hoped it would be.
Relationships: Shadow the Hedgehog/Original Character(s), Shadow the Hedgehog/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Magpie Moon [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721782
Kudos: 2





	Plight Of The Heart

Rouge rose a brow as she watched Shadow over the edge of her teacup. The hedgehog had come over despite the fact that Clover wasn’t home at the moment, and he’d been sitting on the couch for over an hour completely silent. The bat wasn’t sure if he was simply waiting for Clover to get home, or if he actually came over to talk to  _ her _ . He sat there awkwardly, fiddling with his inhibitor rings as he stared straight ahead of him. 

The only sound in the room was of Rouge sipping the hot liquid from the cup. Shadow’s ear twitched, but otherwise he didn’t react. Letting out a loud sigh and setting her cup down on the counter, the bat stormed over to plop herself down on the couch beside him. She couldn’t take it anymore! Her action earned a startled look from Shadow as his gaze shifted to her. 

“Alright, hon. What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing’s wrong,” he insisted, shrugging her question off. 

“You mean to tell me that you came to my apartment just to sit on my couch alone and stare off into space?”

The dark hedgehog was silent for a long moment. How could he even bring this up without sounding stupid?  _ Was  _ it stupid to be worried? It was hard to think with Rouge staring at him with a look so burning he could swear he felt it burrowing down to his soul. 

“Well…”

“Is it about Clover?” Rouge asked.

With the way Shadow stiffened up, she could tell she’d hit the mark. 

“Is it about Clover  _ and Jet _ ?”

Shadow’s ear flicked and he began chewing on his bottom lip.  _ There  _ was the problem. He’d come to ask his friend for dating advice and just  _ didn’t know how _ . Rouge couldn’t really blame him. He’d spent so much time being the “ultimate lifeform” and focusing on all of his missions that Shadow had never dated before. She’d started to assume that he just wasn’t interested in those kinds of things. The hedgehog taking interest in Clover wasn’t something she saw coming. 

Then again, after his reaction to the first time the rabbit bit him, she supposed she shouldn’t have been all that surprised. 

“You want to  _ talk  _ to me about it, hon? I can’t help you if you don’t  _ talk _ ,” Rouge pointed out. 

Once more, Shadow found himself playing with his inhibitor rings. Talking about his feelings wasn’t really something that came all that easily to him. Usually he showed how he felt about things through actions, but sadly that wasn’t something that was going to fly here. 

“You think… She feels as close to me?” he asked after much hesitation. 

Getting those words out was hard when his mouth felt dry as cotton, and Shadow couldn’t seem to bring himself to look Rouge in the eye as he spoke. He was trying, she’d give him that. Even still, it was a bit hard to fully understand the question he was asking.

“You mean, as close as she feels to Jet?” She asked, tilting her head to the side. “Well I don’t see why not. She’s been training with you multiple times a week, and you  _ did _ help her get away from her ex. You guys have gone on a couple of dates now, right?”

“I don’t really know how  _ good  _ of a date I’ve been,” Shadow admitted in a low tone. 

“Why not? She always seems pretty happy when she comes home after them,” the bat said as she shifted to lean her arm up on the back of the couch. “I can tell you I certainly haven’t heard any complaints from her.”

“I don’t…” Shadow hesitated, pausing to try and find the right words to describe what he was feeling. “I don’t really get  _ touchy _ . When we go out, I see other couples and they don’t ever seem to take their hands off of each other.”

He gave out an exasperated sigh, leaning his own arm against the couch so that he could place his chin in his hand. 

“They’re always touching each other, leaning on each other,  _ kissing _ … We go and see a movie and they’re clinging to each other whenever they get scared, or they’re  _ kissing through the whole movie _ and I honestly don’t understand why they even pay to go if they’re not going to pay attention to it!”

Rouge couldn’t help but laugh at Shadow’s frustration with other couples. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t done the same thing at some point in her life. There was just something special about being in a theater with someone sneaking secret kisses in the dark. For all she knew, maybe the couples Shadow was seeing were teenagers that were using the theater as a safe place to be away from their parents and their friends. 

“Instead of focusing on what the other couples do, tell me what  _ you guys  _ do,” Rouge suggested. “Tell me about that last movie date you went on. What was it like?”

Again, Shadow shifted awkwardly. It felt strange to retell something that felt like it should have been so private. Then again, this was  _ Rouge  _ he was talking to. He  _ quite literally _ trusted her with his life, and though he never voiced it he considered her a strange sort of elder sister. 

“Well, I picked her up here. We went to a theater,” he started, pulling his knees up onto the couch. 

“Mhmm, and what kind of movie did you see?” Rouge asked. 

“Horror. It’s  _ always  _ horror,” Shadow replied with a smirk. “I’d be willing to see some action movies too, but I like hearing her laugh when someone dies or something stupid happens.”

If she hadn’t seen it first hand in her own living room, Rouge almost wouldn’t have believed it. It wasn’t exactly every day one came across someone who laughed at horror movies. 

“Mhmm. And what do you do during the movie?”

“Watch it?” Shadow replied in confusion. “I guess I laugh too, whenever she does. Sometimes she’ll whisper things to me about what’s going on and that’ll be pretty amusing. Sometimes I’ll whisper things back.”

“Sure  _ sounds  _ like you’re having a good time,” the bat said with a smile. “She ever try to cuddle?”

At that, Shadow smiled sheepishly. 

“The seats are set up strangely. I don’t think she’d actually be able to unless we were in the same seat together. That… would be an  _ awfully tight  _ fit.”

Rouge had to bite her tongue to keep from making a “ _ that’s what he said _ ” joke. As amusing as it was, now just wasn’t the time for it. 

“I still don’t really understand why you’re worried, hon. Clover  _ loves  _ going on those dates with you,” Rouge admitted. “Look, normally I’d tell you to go and talk to her if you’re feeling nervous about things, but I know it’s not easy for you. She’s probably just picked up on the fact that you aren’t fully comfortable with physical affection yet and she’s respecting those boundaries. Look at the relationship she came out of before she wound up here with us. There  _ were no  _ boundaries. I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes her a while to fully get into the swing of things again.”

Shadow sighed, reaching to run his hand over his quills. Maybe he  _ was  _ being silly for worrying. For some reason he found he just couldn’t help it. 

“What about her falling asleep in Jet’s lap?” he asked quietly. 

Rouge’s face betrayed her own nervousness at that question. Oh, she’d seen  _ that  _ before! One of the times the hawk had been over, Rouge had entered the living room only to find Clover passed out cold in Jet’s lap with the wind rider running his finger up her forehead. It was a strange sight to behold, but the bat remembered feeling much amusement at hearing him admit that he literally couldn’t get up and had been stuck there for _ two hours _ . 

“I mean, I know she’s  _ fond  _ of him,” she tried to choose her words carefully, not wanting to upset Shadow with them. “They do get a bit…  _ touchy _ . Clover might be using her friendship with him as a positive-touch outlet.”

With the look of confusion Shadow was giving her, Rouge already knew that she needed to elaborate. Now it was her turn to pause and try to think of how to phrase things. Giving someone a play-by-play on the different kinds of relationships out there wasn’t exactly something she was used to doing, after all. However, Shadow had come to her with his worries and she didn’t want to let him down. 

“Clover in general is touchy with those she feels close to,” Rouge started, pressing a finger against her own cheek. “I remember her mentioning once that rabbits are  _ very  _ physically affectionate. But she seems to recognize that other types of Mobians don’t show their affection the same way. So to me, it looks like she’s dialing herself back to make sure that she doesn’t overstep any boundaries.”

The bat stopped there for a moment, watching Shadow actively trying to process the new information given to him. Even now, she could see the wheels turning in his head. When he seemed to get it, she continued. 

“ _ You _ are nervous around her. She picks up on that, and she doesn’t force any sort of touching or physical affection on you. Jet on the other hand has given her the green light, so she doesn’t hold it back with him.”

“So…” Shadow let out a soft huff of a breath, trying to get over the awkwardness he felt. “How do I ‘give her the green light’?”

Rouge let out a soft chuckle. In her opinion, there weren’t enough guys like Shadow in the world. It was cute seeing him try to work through things like this without being like…  _ well without being like most of Rouge’s ex’s. _ It was a refreshing sight for sure. 

“Next time you have a date, just stay  _ here _ ,” she suggested. “I’ll go out for a few hours so you two have some private time. But sitting on the couch watching a movie will be more comfortable than those seats that keep you apart. It’s something as simple as reaching to hold her hand, or leaning your shoulders together. Just a little action that says you’re ready to be closer.”

“I thought I was doing that with our sparring matches,” Shadow admitted, averting his gaze and reaching to rub his arm. 

“Oh, honey!” Rouge laughed out “Sparring is  _ work _ . I know you’re an  _ action man _ , but Clover might not realize that you’re doing it because of how much you care about her.”

“I just don’t want her to think I’m boring,” the hedgehog grumbled out. “She’s been on this big adventure with  _ him _ , and it’s more epic than anything I’ve done with her. They even have matching marks!”

Oh. 

_ Oh. _

Oh so  _ that  _ was the  _ real  _ root of all of Shadow’s worry, more so than the touching or bonding experiences. Suddenly everything fell into place for Rouge. Honestly, she didn’t know why she hadn’t seen it sooner. 

“You’re… upset because they have matching scars?” 

“Not just scars,” Shadow huffed. “ _ Battle wounds _ ! There’s an unbreakable bond between battle wound brethren.”

Try as she might to keep a straight face, Rouge found the laughter bubbling up from her throat with far too much strength to stop. Her hand slapped over her lips in an effort to keep it in, but to no avail. Poor Shadow stiffened up at the sound and crossed his arms unhappily. Really it shouldn’t have surprised her. Shadow really  _ did  _ seem like the kind of guy that would find matching battle scars  _ romantic _ . 

“Oh,  _ honey _ ,” Rouge giggled out. “Clover’s not going to automatically like Jet more than you  _ just  _ because they have matching scars. _ I promise _ .”

“You’re sure?” He asked, worry evident in his eyes. 

“I’m sure,” she sighed out, finally getting her breathing back under control. “ _ Nice alliteration by the way. _ ”

Finally, the bat saw a tiny smile crack it’s way onto Shadow’s features. That alone was enough to make the entire awkward conversation with it. Just knowing she’d helped her friend was enough for Rouge. Shadow more often than not had trouble with dealing with others in general. She couldn’t imagine just how strange trying to figure out  _ dating  _ was. 

Rather than respond, he reached to playfully give her a shove. As per usual, he forgot his own strength and bopped the bat down against the other side of the couch. Rouge felt a new round of laughter escaping her, and she gave his own side a soft kick in return, earning the softest of chuckles from the hedgehog. 

“ _ Thanks _ .”

“Any time, hon.”


End file.
